Kansas City streetcars transport 32K riders in first weekend

KANSAS CITY (AP) — More than 32,000 passengers have ridden Kansas City's new streetcars on the first weekend of operation, far exceeding ridership projections.

Kansas City Streetcar Authority officials tell The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/21SPCsA) that ridership peaked Saturday with nearly 15,000 people getting on along the 2.2-mile route through downtown.

More than 12,000 people rode the streetcar Friday. There were nearly 5,500 passengers Sunday, but that was still more than twice the prediction of 2,700 average daily riders once the novelty wears off.

Numbers for the first workday of streetcar operations on Monday weren't available.

The sole glitch this weekend was an indicator light on a door that went out Saturday. The car was taken to a maintenance shop and was back in service in about a half hour.